Nifty News

Faithful Followers

Thursday, February 5, 2009

I've had a cold all week. Nothing too bad, just a stuffy nose mostly. Today I woke up with a headache. I took some Advil and felt much better by lunchtime. But I started losing my voice this evening. It was fine this afternoon, but it's now all scratchy and low. I call it my "Demi Moore" voice. I'm pretending that it's sexy. No one needs to correct me and tell me I sound like Roz...

"I'm watching you Wazowski; always watching..."

I'm drinking buckets of mint tea with honey (right, Kelli?), and I've decided that I shouldn't speak a word until Saturday. What? It could happen. I can just text my kids. I can be hip and happenin' and say things like, "ur making 2 much noyz!" Or maybe, "wat do u want 4 dinner?" Or perhaps "idk, go ask ur dad." And then I can end with, "g2g ttyl."

Actually, scratch that. It was physically painful to write that stuff. I just can't write "ur" for your or you're. I can't do it. Now I'm far from perfect, but I meet more and more people every day who just can't spell. Do you think our texting generation of kids will have a clue how to spell by the time they get to high school? Instead of explaining the difference between "your" and "you're", will we have to explain that "ur" isn't actually a word? Or, worse yet, maybe the powers that be will decide that "ur" should replace both "your" and "you're" and it will (gasp!) be added to the dictionary! Oh, I cringe to think of it.

I'm going to bed early before 2:00 tonight. I have to get my voice back before Saturday because I'm speaking at the Baby Expo in Milwaukee. If you're in the Milwaukee area, stop by and say, "Hi!" You can find me HERE!

40 comments:

My younger brother and I are six years apart. I am not part of the "texting generation," but he is. It drives me nuts when he leaves comments on my blog with texting language. It is all I can do not to delete it.

And I TOTALLY agree with you about the 'ur' spelling. A little piece of me dies inside when I see that. ;-) The same piece of me that dies when someone uses the wrong form of there, their or they're. It reminds me of the FRIENDS episode when Ross and Rachel have their fight about being on a break.

HA!! I'm with ya on the texting. Although, I'm finding myself using those crazy abbreviations more and more!! Hope you get your voice back soon. I lose mine every year with the first cold spell. It's really annoying when after 3 weeks all I can do is whisper. Hope yours clears up soon.

Actually, the kids-who-can't-spell has already happened. My parents live in Mexico, and there are already remedial spelling classes because of so much texting. And Spanish is spelled the way it sounds! How do you change that into "textese"???

Not to mention our lovely public school system here in the USA. My friend teaches reading to High Schoolers in California... who NEVER learned to read! How do you get to High School without reading? Hmmm...

I was in a conversation recently with a new college graduate who was in her first year of teaching HS English. She said she refused to use a cell phone with texting because her whole working goal was to teach kids English and spelling so she wasn't going to learn the texting language. I wonder if she will win that battle.

Interesting side-bar, my sons kindergarten teacher said that highschool students can't read or write handwriting, only printing. My 15yo stepson is in that category (and we thought he was just being a teenager) but the reason is because there was a huge push years back for elementary students to learn to use the computer/internet and submit type written papers. Schools are now going back to requiring handwritten homework and I'm sure the next up and coming texting generation will remind our schools to teach proper spelling and grammar.

yeah, but don't you remember when email looked like this? no capitalization, no paragraph breaks, etc. nowadays i email with correct orthography, but in college it was a way to be lazy AND rebel against institutionalized learning, which was a double bonus for students who, let's face it, would rather be watching TV than explaining to their english professors that yes, we do know that "they" isn't singular, but that our generation needs a gender neutral option. (as in "if a student knows how to spell, they shouldn't ruin it with texting.") anyway, i've seen as many adults on forums with hideous spelling as teens, so i'll reserve judgment on the texting generation until i'm old and grumpy and allowed to judge to my heart's content.

Well, I believe kids shouldn't have cell phones until after they have learned proper grammar in grade school. I didn't get a cell phone until I started driving, which was late for my generation. I'm so not looking forward to when I have 3rd graders pulling out their cell phones in my classroom!

I hope you're feeling better. Nothing like giving a talk sounding like a croaking frog.

I think that texting is just the latest thing regarding folks who can't spell. There have ALWAYS been people who can't spell. For instance, I recently read a book about Lewis and Clark's exploration and it contained actual excerpts from their trip journals. The spelling in that was, um, amusing, to say the least.I think there are some people in this world more attuned to language and grammar, and others who are not. And yes, I think current technology, while it has many benefits, also is contributing to a certain amount of illiteracy.

That much being said, my favorite is when people don't know how to use "its" and "it's" properly. Don't get me started on punctuation. Does anyone ever know how to use a comma, or a semicolon? And run-on sentences! Ack!

Amen on the text spelling, whatever that is. Sadly, I foresee a day when that will, in fact, be accepted as "normal". Many many young do not know how to spell. Being in the unique position of being back in college in my 30's I get a front row seat at the modern interpretation of spelling.

If texting is too much of a hassle, you could always learn sign language. :) I hate it when people use u, ur, and whatever other words that aren't real. That is coming from a deaf person who likes to write in proper English. Oh, by the way, whenever someone in the family loses their voice, they sign! And whenever we went swimming, we could talk to each other underwater. It was fun!

I am a professional proof reader/editor, and more frequently these days I have to bite my lip and think happy thoughts when I get emails from supposedly professional writers AND other proof readers that contain 'ur' and other travesties of mangled grammar.

It makes me sad, even though I know language is an evolving thing, I don't think this is the direction it needs to go.

Ok, I started being a smarty-bum and trying to type my comment in text talk but I had to delete it because even I couldnt read it! My MUM uses it for texting but I take ages to decipher it.

I get a cold and loose my voice straight away, I think it has something to do with two wild boys in the house all day and not being able to stop talking. My friend calls it my phone-sex voice. She always gets a good laugh out of the jokes it can prompt. I don't know if it's available there but Manuka Honey is brilliant! It is mostly used for healing external wounds but it can be dissolved under your tongue for a sore throat too.

I still qualify as part of the "texting generation" but I still can't bring myself to misspell words on purpose in English or my native language. I get ribbed for it by my friends, but I guess I'm just a purist and a defender of proper grammar.

I might use substitutes for longer words to save time and space but I'll deny it anywhere :P

And as a non-native English speaker, I just can't decide if the misuse of "your" and "you're" is a general mistake or a severe allergy to apostrophes. Is it THAT difficult to understand the difference?

And now for a SSO question:

I won't ask for your opinion on recent events since you've been quite clear you don't blog about outside news, and I respect that. But say, what would have been your reaction had you been expecting...say...triplets? (Assuming you weren't on fertility drugs and the chances to naturally conceive more than triplets are very slim).

I permanently have laryngitis due to a paralyzed vocal cord, and texting from one room to another is done quite frequently in our house! I have to admit I do love texting! I normally spell things out and my almost 12 year old is good about it too! Now when I twitter and I have too much to say I will use "2" in place of two, to or too! No one has to worry about me texting while I drive though... I need my reading glasses to text, and I can't drive with my reading glasses on.... I don't mind being almost 51, I just want my eyes to be what they were 10 years ago!

Your spell check blew up--ha! I'm moving to a different planet if they put ur in the dictionary. I can't use it either. My husband teaches mostly juniors and seniors in college and most of them don't know the difference between your and you're and there and their. It drives me crazy! I say give them all F's...He says he's not an English professor...I say do it anyway...He says he's their teacher not me...Oh well...I guess maybe I should have gotten that PhD...Or I should stop violating their student/teacher privacy and reading their papers anyway. Or something. Anyway...I don't like the text stuff either, and good luck with your voice.

/nod to the kids can't spell thing. When I misspell someting its usually due to my typing , NOT my spelling knowledge.i subbed a class not too long ago - around Veterans day and I had their assignment on the board - it was computer class and they were supposed to make a powerpoint presentation for Veterans Day. How many kids do you think asked me how to spell Veteran's? EVEN though it was written on the board? ugh it was annoying...

'ur' and the extra uses for the 'Z' - whoever made Zis happy as can be with all its new uses in text language.

the next generation won't know how to spell, read or walk...with the pants around the knees. Oh how I wish I was an orthopedic surgeon for when those kids finally pull up their pants and realize its no longer the pants making them walk funny, its the bones! ha ha!

At 24, I'm certainly part of that generation, but even in texting, I can't bring myself to use grammatically incorrect spelling. A side note: When I was in 4th or 5th grade, I couldn't spell for my life. My mom went to the principal of my school, in attempt to get me some extra help, and the principal told her that it didn't matter, we'd all have spellcheck on our computers! My mom lost alot of respect for her that day.

Every time I get a cold, about a week after it goes away for some reason I start sounding just like Roz. I give up!

My kids all want cell phones and I won't give in. I may consider it for my son when he starts to drive, which will probably fall right after his 16th birthday. My feeling is if you don't drive and your friends all have land lines, then you don't need a cell phone. I just got my first "real" cell phone and I'm 37!! I still don't text much, and when I do, I can't bring myself to use text language, I have to spell it all out correctly. That is probably the writer in me. I think texting great when needed, but it can be a waste of time when you could be actually talking to someone.

I'm with you! I hate "textspeak" and "chatspeak" with a passion. I drive my friends crazy by using proper english when I text. I am convinced that it is part of the reason so many people can't spell! It drives me crazy. Right up there with avoiding reading because it's "too much work." Ugh.

I am a High School English teacher, and I have to cringe so many times a day at the "spelling" kids use in their journals. For formal papers, though, they at least use spell check (which won't fix everything), but that doesn't help for essay tests in class. I tell them on the first day of school that they're welcome to email me if they're absent or if they need help, but if they use any textese or fail to use the appropriate format (no starting any kind of email with, "Yo," for example), I will not reply. They're all down with that. ;)

Two of my groupies told me that I "pwn noobs" the other day, and the explanation of what they meant took so long, I couldn't even follow it. Apparently, it's a gamer language all its own. If it's that hard to explain, how is that easier? It was a compliment, apparently, but I just don't see it.

Well, I can tell you my wee ones will know how to spell at least ;) It's a huge pet peeve of mine, and I've noticed a lot more errors and shortcuts like that in people who work for me who are recently graduated than who have been around for awhile.

Then again... we write one way and talk another, so the hope is that we can make this distinction again. I know there are college lectures/classes talking about this -- particularly for resumes!

My biggest nailbiting words are LOSE and LOOSE. It drives me batty when someone writes, "I need to loose weight." I could scream and I see it at least once a day when reading blogs online. In fact, I've seen it VERY recently...that's all I'm going to say....